Matching Tattoos
by Fangirling37
Summary: Modern AU/Soulmate AU: The Stark children finding their Soulmates with the first words spoken to them tattooed somewhere on their body
1. Stark Kids

None of the Stark children were idiots, they were all quite smart no matter what that little shit Joffrey says. But they knew as well as anyone that Soulmates were not to be taken lightly. They six children knew better than most that not every Soulmate was a perfect match and sometimes those matches could have small breaks and those breaks didn't end well, especially if there was a child involved. Not that any of Ned and Catelyn's children hated their half brother, no they all loved Jon. It was just awkward sometimes, a permanent reminder that there would always be relationships outside of Soulmates.

But that didn't change the rules. Once born the first words your Soulmate speaks to you are written somewhere on your body, in their handwriting too (Arya always complained that she could hardly read hers as the writing was so sloppy). The words never changed and couldn't be washed away and, from what they learned from those around them who had found their Soulmate, once the words were spoken they would burn slightly on your body making it even more clear that this person was meant for you. Sansa often said she wished it wouldn't burn too badly, although their parents words were shown to have been as simple as their own, no evidence of burn marks whatsoever.

* * *

Robb was ten when he felt his words burn. He and Jon were stuck babysitting their siblings when the Baratheon children had stopped by to spend a few hours with them. Joffrey had directed most of the time talking to Sansa (she spent the night pouting as the words in her left ankle didn't match his), Tommen played with Bran and Rickon, and little Myrcella had followed Robb and Jon around almost the whole time. She only backed off when Theon came and said that the eldest the would pay some video games in the living room.

The blonde hadn't said much, except to Sansa and Arya, so Robb was slightly worried when the only words she said to him that night (a simple question of 'would your parents mind if I had some ice cream') matched the ones on his left shoulder and he felt a slight burn there. As soon as she and her siblings left Robb secretly told Jon and Theon, the latter nearly dying of his laughter. Jon nearly shrugged and said that he'd need all the luck in the world to not get killed by the girls mother.

* * *

Arya wasn't exactly proud of how she found her Soulmate. Sure she figured it would happen in a cheesy way that Sansa would never let her live down, but she didn't think she would meet him after getting into a fist fight with Joffrey Baratheon. She knew that Robert had some kids apart from the ones he had with Cersei, another reminder that not all matches were perfect, but she had always doubted that she would meet one so young.

It was Robb's thirteenth birthday, the Baratheon's had been invited since her parents wanted Robb to explain to Robert and Cersei that their daughter was his Soulmate, and the only one she didn't recognize was a tall boy roughly Robb's age with dark hair and blue eyes. But she ignored him in favor of pissing off Joffrey as much as she could, he usually wouldn't do anything if an adult was around and just in a few short minutes there were no adults and Arya was about ready to kill the brat herself.

She forgot who threw the first punch, she only remembered that she wasn't going down without a fight and she heard a nice cracking sound after a good hit to the face. It only lasted a few minutes since the tall boy from earlier pulled them apart with an annoyed, "If you really want to fight at least do it away from the house." Arya was vaguely aware of the slight burning sensation on her arm as he said those words, but she was too busy admitting the broken nose Joffrey was sporting to pay any attention.

It wasn't until the Baratheon's left, Cersei none too happy that her ten year-old daughter had found her Soulmate, that Arya had gotten the boys name and remembered the faint burning. It turned out that Gendry Baratheon, fourteen and an ass from what she remembered, was her Soulmate. She swore that if one more of her siblings had a Baratheon Soulmate she'd murder both, but most likely the Baratheon half.

* * *

Jon knew it would take a while to find his Soulmate, after all what kind of persons first words to another were, 'I've heard dumber things'? But he figured that he'd at least spend time bugging his brother about his little Baratheon Soulmate. Of course it wouldn't be much fun without Theon there to help. Somehow they ended up showing their words to each other, which was normally forbidden unless proving that you were Soulmates.

Robb's words were in Myrcella's perfect cursive on his left shoulder, definitely Myrcella's first words to him. Theon's words were in an eerily familiar cursive on his right calf, something about him being annoying and to leave then alone. His own were in an abnormally perfect Times New Roman on the right of his ribs, the words getting a laugh out of both boys with him.

It wasn't until later that day, Robb getting snacks while the two set up a video game that Jon realized why Theon's words were so familiar.

"Sansa." Jon said, the brown haired teen giving him a guilty look. "Your Soulmate is Sansa?"

Theon shrugged, "Not like I'm hers. Don't worry about it. I don't need a Soulmate anyways. Besides sometimes the matches are screwed up right? Myrcella's parents are a good example."

That was the last they talked of Theon's words...well until Sansa found her Soulmate.

* * *

Sansa wasn't one to enjoy trips to the nurses office. But as a T.A for the P.E teacher it was an often journey with some kid who forgot their meds or a girl who used the period excuse to get out of running the mile. However this was a different case. Trystane Martell, Myrcella's best friend had just gotten into a fist fight with some idiot who got the need to judge Myrcella and Robb about being Soulmates. Sansa had always known that some Martell's had a temper on them, but she didn't think Trystane would be one. She'd talked to Myrcella about him from time to time and each mention of him was how he rarely resorted to violence when it came to fights.

Now as she half carried, half lead the boy into the nurses office she found herself slightly impressed by the teen's willingness to fight in a defense of his friends 'honor'.

"What happened?" The nurse asked in a monotone voice.

"Fist fight on the field." Sansa replied, helping Trystane onto the bed.

"Let me grab the ice pack." The nurse stood and headed to the fridge down the hall.

"I'm fine." Trystane says, pushing her away.

"Clearly." Sansa snorted, then gasps when she felt the slight burn on her ankle.

The sixteen year-old stepped back as the nurse entered. "Go back to class while I call his parents."

Sansa blindly nodded and began the trek back to the field, her mind on the boy in the nurses office.

"You okay?" Margaery asked once they got back to the locker room. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I'd prefer Ghost to this." Sansa ignored her friends eye roll as she gestured to her ankle. "I thought it'd burn more."

"Oh my gods."

Of course the whole locker room knew in a few seconds, and by extension the whole school by the time school started next week. She thought she was imagining Theon watching her as she talked to her Soulmate as they figured everything else. Robb and Jon most likely were having him watch out for her.

* * *

Bran had always felt left out. All his siblings talk about their words and how they couldn't wait to meet their Soulmates and here he was with no words whatsoever. The only people who knew besides him were his mom and dad, and he preferred to keep it that way.

Of course he was slightly surprised when he heard about platonic Soulmates, the Reed twins filling him in on the subject.

"Instead of a slight burn it's more of a cold sensation when you have it with them." Meera said. "I guess sometimes matches don't need to be romantic."

Bran had spent most of his freshman year trying to figure out if he even had a platonic Soulmate. For the most part he was too busy with school work to even bother with finding out who his platonic Soulmate would even be. By the end of the year he figured it didn't really matter since he was ready to move on from that search. That is until he realized that the Reed house wasn't as cold as he always thought it was and both twins were usually around when he felt the chill sink in.

* * *

Jon was glad to be done with high school and soon to be done with college. Although he loved learning, the stressful environment that schools gave off really made the learning less interesting and more of an annoying task by the end of the first semester. If course he wasn't used to going to parties, but Theon and Robb made him go.

After a few drinks Theon decided to play a game of how many embarrassing stories of my two best friends can I tell within an hour. He ended the hour with an embarrassing story of Jon doing something really stupid to impress a redhead from his senior year of high school. A girl with white blonde hair gave Jon a shrug when she saw how red his face had turned and simply said, "I've heard of dumber things."

Jon started at her open mother four a few seconds before giving a sigh of relief and simply saying, "At least I understand the context of my words now."

The girl laughed and shook his hand, his messy scrawl on wrapped around her right wrist. "Well now I can say the same about mine. Daenerys Targareyn."

"Jon Stark."

* * *

Rickon was used to having his siblings and their Soulmates at the house, save for Bran of course. So when Robb and Myrcella announced that they'd get married after she graduated college the youngest Stark figured maybe then he'd know who his Soulmate was. Of course he was slightly upset when the wedding came and he wasn't any closer to knowing. Bran had told him he didn't need to worry about finding his Soulmate, which was easy for the older boy to say.

But he was pleasantly surprised to have found someone to talk with when Myrcella introduced him to get cousin Shireen, a pretty girl with a few scars on the side of her face.

"Shireen this is Rickon, Robb's youngest brother." The blonde smiled at the two. "Rickon, my cousin Shireen."

"Nice to meet you." Shireen have him a shy smile.

"Ugh, do you have any idea how frustrating it is to heart those words?" Rickon started, ignoring the burn on his stomach. "I mean it's nice to meet you two, but to have those exact words as my Soulmates first words to me, like it's so frustrating. Why can't I have normal words, I mean words that would make it easier for me to tell if we're Soulmates or not. Sorry, I'm just really upset with this whole situation."

Both girls were silent for a few seconds before they busy into laughter and Shireen said, "Well now I know what my Soulmate many by frustrating words."

Rickon's face went slack as the girls kept laughing. "You mean.."

"Those words have been on my back for the longest time and I was so confused by what they meant." The younger girl said, her laughter fading.

"Of course." Rickon gave a small laugh himself. "I'm really sorry about that."

"No need to apologize." Shireen said, neither noticing that Myrcella went back to Robb to tell him what happened. "How about we start over?"

"Deal."

* * *

Arya couldn't stop laughing when she heard about Rickon and Shireen. Gendry had to elbow get on the ribs to get her to stop.

"Of my gods, that's brilliant." She continued to laugh, Theon laughing alongside her. "Tell me that's not beautiful."

"And your meeting of your Soulmate want interesting?" Sansa said, raising an eyebrow.

"Shut up." Arya said, her smile fading quickly.

"At least you don't have 'asshole' on your arm for the rest of your life." Gendry said. "I don't think my mother was too happy to see that when I was born."

"Shireen kept saying she was really confused growing up." Trystane said. "Which is reasonable considering the rant that was on her back."

"Well I find the situation hilarious." Arya said, taking a glass of champagne off the table. "Might as well have some fun since Cersei isn't making a scene."

"Let's be grateful my stepmother isn't making a scene." Gendry groaned. "We don't need one to happen today."

Arya shrugged before she nearly chugged the glass and dragged her boyfriend to the dance floor. Gendry rolled his eyes, but danced with his girlfriend figuring that he can propose later. Better not steal the day from Myrcella and Robb.


	2. Baratheon Kids

Cersei and Robert's kids always knew that Soulmates was not a conversation topic to be brought up without great caution. After all they knew their parents had never been in love and that their father had other children with other women, Gendry moved in when his mother died after his sixth birthday and their house was never the same again.

But the rules had been set in stone and nothing could change that. However there was nothing wrong with wishing for your words to disappear...right?

* * *

Myrcella found her Soulmate first. Their father wanted them to go someplace while he took Gendry on a father-son bonding trip, Cersei meeting with her brothers that day, all three were sent to the Starks house for the day. Joffrey didn't leave Sansa alone, except for a minute or two when he pissed off both Arya and Theon within a few seconds of each other. Tommen hung out with Bran and Rickon, the three playing with Lego's and action figures. Myrcella didn't have much interest in playing with swords and knives like Arya, although both were fake, so she spent most of her time following Robb and Jon around. She was certain both found her terribly annoying by the time Theon got there and loudly announced that he'd be playing video games with the oldest Stark sons.

Myrcella resigned herself to hanging out with Arya for the rest of the night, but when she got a little hungry and asked Robb if his parents would mind if she had some of the ice cream Arya was busy grabbing she was surprised by the slight burn on the back of her neck when Robb replied with, "Just don't eat it all". Not the most romantic words (however Gendry simply had asshole written on his left arm, on the inside of his elbow to be exact) but she figured it could've been worse. After all Joffrey had told her such horrible things about Soulmates, so the green eyed girl was relieved that Robb Stark was her Soulmate (mostly because he was always kind and the fact that she had a crush definitely helped).

* * *

Gendry vaguely remembered his mom trying to scrub his word off of his arm when she was still alive. It was a ritual at every bath; he get cleaned up, mess around a little with the wash cloth and soap, shampoo and condition his hair, then try and scrub the word off. Before he even knew how to read Gendry knew that his word was considered bad language and was told repeatedly not to use it. Then his mom died and his dad took him in, along with his wife and their three kids.

Gendry was used to his half siblings by that point and the only one he didn't like was Joffrey, the other two agreed with his opinion that Joffrey was a spoiled brat. He'd known of the Starks but he hadn't met them. Ned and Catelyn seemed to be pretty happy together, something Gendry hadn't seen with Soulmates yet. They had five kids, Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Rickon. Ned also had a son with another woman who was Robb's age, his name was Jon. He first met them at Robb's thirteenth birthday. Evidently they had been injured because Ned and Catelyn had Robb explain to Robert and Cersei that sweet, little Myrcella was his Soulmate.

He'd left the room when Cersei exploded and went outside to see Joffrey fighting with Arya, blood on the grass and their clothes. Gendry groaned and grabbed the two, separating them and saying, "If you really want to fight at least do it away from the house." Once he let go he heard Arya mutter "Asshole" under her breath and his arm burned slightly. He groaned and went back inside, not thinking about the stubborn girl outside who had managed to break Joffrey's nose (he'd have to send her a thank you gift later).

* * *

Joffrey was never disappointed that he didn't have words anywhere on his body, of anything he was glad because when would he ever have time to focus on them? Even if he ever learned to care about them he doubted he'd even need one to be happy. He was perfectly happy being the oldest and fiving Myrcella and Tommen to do what he wanted. However Gendry moved in when Joffrey was five and the blond but didn't like the spot of oldest child being taken away from him and given to Gendry who want even a legitimate child.

Of course he did like it when a girl found him cute. Joffrey would put on the charm and then he'd do as he wished, usually they would tell someone and the two were forced to break up. But Joffrey knew that sooner or later he'd convince someone to marry him, maybe he'd even get them to leave their Soulmate. The idea made him happy alongside the notion that he could do whatever he wanted one he married the girl.

* * *

Tommen figured that he'd probably find out his Soulmate was already with someone once he found them. After all the words, 'Sorry, but I have plans tonight' practically said everything that the bond boy figured. He was half to know that he was wrong when it turned out his Soulmate, Elaine Tarly, was simply talking about her brother Sam's birthday. They'd been paired up for a history project in college and Tommen asked if she would meet him at the library around four to get started. The youngest Baratheon child was glad that his situation wasn't as bad as he thought. He was also happy when Elaine told him that she'd gladly go to his sister's wedding as his old one after only saying for a few weeks.

His mom wasn't happy at all that day. In her mind Myrcella deserved a better Soulmate than Robb Stark, on top of that Joffrey wasn't allowed to show, Gendry was taking about proposing to Arya, ans Tommen's Soulmate evidently 'left much to be desired'. Tommen knew that Cersei airways favored Joffrey, but the young boy didn't realize how much until there was a big event that Joffrey wasn't allowed anywhere near. If anything Tommen agreed with Myrcella, and if he ever married Joffrey was not allowed either.


End file.
